A shout out to Australia.

[ktydeck (Ken Tydeck)]

Hi all,
I am a new member from the USA and would like to introduce myself. I have been into amateur astronomy and astroimaging here in Arizona for about 10 years. My wife and I had the opportunity in Jan 2006 to visit Australia and friends. It was a wonderful trip as we were able to visit Tasmania, Sydney and up north of Brisbane to Eumundi and Noosa. A side trip out of Sydney took us to Goulburn and the Magellan guest observatory for 2 nights of wonderful Downunder observing. What a dream! Well Teri, my wife, and I are returning Downunder this March very close to the new moon and we would very much like to hang out with some fellow amateurs for some observing. I will also be bringing an astrotrac and camera for some imaging if possible. Can anybody steer us towards any star parties out of Sydney around the dates of March 19-20th? We will be staying with good friends in Green Valley around that time. Thanks for reading and hopefully I can meet up with some fellow iceinspacers in the near future.
Regards,
Ken Tydeck
Mesa, Arizona. USA

[Liz]

Ken .... hope you have clear skies for your trip next month, am sure you and your wife will have a ball.
Sydneysiders will let you know whats going on.

[mill (Martin)]

Welcome to IIS
Why Sydney?????????
Melbourne is mucho goeder
Yes i did the spelling like this on purpose
Have fun and may the weather be fine.
I'm from Melbourne and of no good to you

[Moon (James)]

Ken,

Welcome to IIS. I'm sure someone from NSW will give you a hand.

SPSP would be perfect but it's 14-16 May http://www.asnsw.com/ Can you delay your trip??

Otherwise you could fly down to Melbourne on Jetstar for the ASV Messier Star Party on 13th March http://www.asv.org.au/

James

[ktydeck (Ken Tydeck)]

Actually we will be in Melbourne towards the end of the month for the Carol King and James Taylor concert. Maybe we can shout at the moon.. Also we do have wheels and can move to other venues around the 19-20th. Don't worry a yank will not be behind the wheel..

[gary]

Hi Ken,

Great to hear of your plans to come Downunder once again.

I am one of a group of volunteers that every year help host Northern Hemisphere
observers such as yourself to have the opportunity to observe southern skies
from a dark sky location using a sizable collection of large aperture Dobs, ranging from
14.5" to 30". We have been doing this every year for the past several years
and we have a group of your fellow countrymen and women joining us
this coming March. We even have a couple coming down from Tuscon, Az.

This is all done on a non-commercial, not-for-profit basis
and rather than being a formal star party is a gathering of like-minded observers.

I have emailed you a link to a web site and some email contact addresses should
you be interested. The dates of the event may not correspond with your
current itinerary but should you have any flexibility in that regard it would be great
to have you and your wife join us.

If you are unable to join us, there ate plenty of good folk here on IceInSpace that I
am sure would be happy to host you for a night or two of observing around the greater
Sydney area.

Best Regards

Gary Kopff
20 Kilmory Place, Mount Kuring-Gai
NSW. 2080. Australia
Phone +61-2-9457-9049
Phone +61-2-9457-9593
wildcard@wildcard-innovations.com.au

[Baddad (Marty)]

Hi Ken,

My son was in Arizona. Fort Huachuca. I visited him Jan-Feb 09. He is now at Officer Candidate School, Fort Benning Georgia then on to helicopter pilot training.

Arizona had some very dark clear nights but freezing.

We reside about 35Klms (20miles) N of Brisbane. on acreage. Big roomy house. If you're interested in seeing Brisbane again just PM me.

Sep 09 we visited Gary, one of IIS members in New Zealand.

Cheers Marty

[Waxing_Gibbous (Peter)]

Hi Ken,
Welcome!
Love Arizona! Altough I did lose my cellphone in Sedona early last year. Would you mind looking for it?
If you're down in Victoria ('The Place To Be' according to our license plates). You're welcome to drop by.
We're about 60 miles out of Melbourne with some great dark skies and a crappy house. If you fancy the Australian "country " experience give us a shout.
Others are welcome also, so perhaps we could make our own star party.
Beer would be involved.
We have dogs.
A giant Drop-Bear lives in a tree.
A Possum lives in our stove.
There are cows.

Welcome again,
Peter

Peter

[ktydeck (Ken Tydeck)]

Thanks everybody for all the info.